10/09/2023
Residents of UNION PARISH, LOUISIANA: I have been silenced for nearly 3 years about what happened to my little Sister & I at the hands of Sheriff, Dusty Gates & Union Parish Sheriff’s Dept., however, I just turned 18, am a legal adult & want to share our experience with this person who is running for reelection.
In late August of 2020, my Sister & I (then ages 13 & 15) were in the midst of a custody issue. A MO Judge (who did NOT have jurisdiction over us) issued pick-up orders to force us to leave family, friends, our church & the life that we love & go live in Utah, where we did NOT want to live. He had no authority to do this because we were not residents of his state! We filed for his recusal, submitted complaints with the proper authorities & appeals against his illegal orders. This took weeks to go through the system & went all the way to the MO Supreme Court before we finally won everything we requested.
During the time we were waiting on the Supreme Court to issue justice in our case, we were staying at our homestead in Union Parish, Louisiana. We personally met with Sheriff Gates, showed him the illegal orders, explained to him in detail about what was going on, answered his questions & he promised he would protect us. He gave us his card & even his direct cell phone number.
Several weeks later, we again personally met with Sheriff Gates to give him an update. We brought our legal papers from MO Supreme Court & shared that they would be issuing their ruling shortly.
Despite this, Union Parish Sheriff deputies showed up at our homestead to try & force us to go to Utah. We immediately called Sheriff Gates cell phone, he did not answer & we left an urgent message. We asked the deputies to call him, they did & he immediately answered. We were shocked & hurt that he did not tell them to stand down. We felt lied to & betrayed.
Union Parish Sheriff Deputies, under the direction of Dusty Gates, entered our home that night, during the height of Covid, with no masks, gloves, or protective gear whatsoever, even though they were told that I am considered "high-risk" because of my Asthma. We had not yet had dinner, were starving but weren't allowed to eat. The deputies proceeded to arrest my Sister & I but would not articulate any crime we had committed. We were respectfully sitting inside our homestead on our family property, never raising our voices or being disruptive whatsoever. We tried explaining what was going on but they handcuffed us (one was particularly rough & needlessly so), placed us in separate Sheriff Department vehicles (in the caged back where criminals ride) and we were locked up in jail cells under solitary confinement (no visitors allowed)!!! We had not had food since lunchtime and were kept up until approximately 4:30am, not allowed to eat during this time, we were searched, forced to remove all our clothes, shower & put on “jail uniforms”. After being placed in separate cells, we were not allowed to sleep as we were then taken for a “psychological exam” in the middle of the night. When we finally were allowed to go back to our cells and go to bed, we were awakened for breakfast shortly thereafter. The food was horrible, there were cockroaches in my cell and I could not get away from them. I was not allowed to communicate with my Sister, much less speak to an attorney. We were terrified, didn’t understand what was going on or if & when we would ever get out.
When we were illegally arrested for no crime committed, we were read our Miranda Rights, which promised us access to an attorney. When we asked for an attorney later that evening, we were incorrectly told that we could not have one because we were minors. My Sister pointed out that we were guaranteed one if we had been arrested and they then told us that we had "not been arrested" but were just being held. If this was true, why the handcuffs? Why the rough treatment? Why were we being “held” against our will? If we weren't legally arrested, doesn't this fit the definition of kidnapping?
The morning after our “arrest”, The MO Supreme Court issued orders to vacate the MO Judge’s rulings. He was immediately removed from our case & his orders were completely reversed! This is what we had been telling Sheriff Gates all along because what the Judge had done was not only against MO law but against Federal Laws as well as UCCJEA (the oversight on inter-state child custody). We had shared ALL of this with Dusty Gates in our previous in-person meetings & even showed him the exact legal papers proving what we were saying.
After the Supreme Court issued their orders undoing the illegal orders, we still sat in jail all day and all night until the next afternoon before we were finally released back to the custody of our Dad. Since then, we have made several attempts to reach out to Sheriff Gates but he has never spoken with us since. We have requested the video footage that existed of what happened at the Sheriff’s office but were denied access to it. Instead, the entire situation has been covered up & no local media has covered the story despite it becoming national & international news outside of Union Parish with hundreds of articles & reports! (Google: Kadan Rockett or Rockett vs. Eighmy ) We have filed a Federal lawsuit and so far have won two appeals stripping the MO judge of his Judicial Immunity. The Judge set to face trial before a Federal Jury because of his illegal actions.
Prior to all of this, Sheriff Gates was fully aware of the Rockett family & our deep roots in Union Parish. He was aware that we are “straight A”, honor students, were finalists on NBC America’s Got Talent, have done extensive national & international television, several movies, & numerous national commercials. Most importantly, he knew that we have NEVER been in any trouble whatsoever, and that we are respectful young Christians who are actively involved in the church & community. He knows our Grandad very well & certainly knew that we were safe, where we wanted to be, & in no danger whatsoever when he allowed this to be done to us, with ZERO attempts to intervene. He could have easily picked up his phone, called the local Judge & explained what he knew to try to protect us as he promised, but he did not. He could have easily told his deputies to not handcuff us or lock up innocent kids but he did not. He could have easily reached us to see if we were ok, to check on us or maybe even apologize after the Supreme Court ruled the order illegal (just like we had clearly shown him in his office, quoting the exact laws to him) but he did not. He has not seen us when we have stopped by (he always seems to be out of the office when we are there), he has not returned calls and when he has come into contact with our Grandad at events, pretends that nothing is wrong & ignores the facts of what he allowed to happen to us. Last week, (Oct. 2nd) we attended one of his campaign events in Marion, Louisiana to try to get some answers. My Dad stood up in front of everyone & asked him if his office had made any changes to ensure that innocent kids are never arrested & treated like this again. He refused to answer the question & then ran away afterwards, literally hiding in the back so he didn’t have to face us.
We don’t believe that innocent kids should be handcuffed & locked in cages for ANY REASON whatsoever. This is CHILD ABUSE & common sense will tell you it’s just plain wrong. Sheriff Gates is running for re-election on the platform that “Experience Counts” but quite frankly, WE DON’T NEED OR WANT THIS EXPERIENCE!
As a legal adult & first-time voter, I will use my public platform & vote to seek changes in policies, laws & politicians when necessary, so that something like this will NEVER scar another innocent kid for life.
Everything I have said here is the truth & you can easily google the facts of this by searching my name or those involved. It’s all public record.
America’s Got Talent TOP 14, Film Student & Actor: DARK SKIES, RUSH HOUR & many more . . . INSTAGRAM: TWITTER:
